kylefwill's review
5.0
It should be a crime that more of Mayrocker is not translated, and Song Cave should be showered with awards and grants to putting more of her into English. Mayrocker is a wondrous challenge of a reading experience—with her extremely idiosyncratic shorthand and abbreviations and mid-word line breaks, I might make the argument that she is not supposed to be read out loud, but even still the rhythm and the words sound beautiful in the air. Motifs (or maybe leitmotifs, as the case may be) drift in and out of the poems as phrases and images are repeated in a way that makes the poems feel woven together like music. This book, written largely in dedication to the work of Holderlin, and to a variety of Mayrocker's friends (one could make the argument that in here they are characters), is a dizzying class on grief and gratitude—both for being alive, with and without those dear to us. My favorite from the collection, dated 1/16/08:
the forest shadow (that time) yanked
the heart out of my chest I stumbled over
the roots of the path toward us 1 beautiful
wanderer was walking with 1 alpine-hat and 1 flower in his
hand we glanced at each other but without greeting 1 an-
other the green finches in the light-green foliage the light
through the treetops I was happy treading slowly
on to the right the lake moving somewhat
the forest shadow (that time) yanked
the heart out of my chest I stumbled over
the roots of the path toward us 1 beautiful
wanderer was walking with 1 alpine-hat and 1 flower in his
hand we glanced at each other but without greeting 1 an-
other the green finches in the light-green foliage the light
through the treetops I was happy treading slowly
on to the right the lake moving somewhat
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